SearchingForMyStar

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Are Producers Using Aaliyah To Compete Against Each Other?

Are producers using Aaliyah to compete against each other? One of the biggest problems is that her family doesn't want anything involving her made, but we all know when it comes to money the family's opinion doesn't matter.

Many of us remember Aaliyah Haughton as a soulful singer who was trying to become a crossover artist when she tragically died. She had made her mark in the realm of R&B music and was moving on to acting. Queen of The Damned and Romeo Must Die portrayed her as new to the acting world. If it wasn't for her death in 2001, who knows how far Aaliyah would have taken her career. However, her music still lives on today through those of us that it touched, and unfortunately her name has started to come with some drama too.

Towards the beginning of summer 2014 Lifetime Network announced that an Aaliyah movie would be made and Disney star Zendaya would be given the leading role. Unfortunately lots of drama ensued. Zendaya received the meanest of comments on social media and there were problems securing music. Well, there was also the problem of the Haughton family not being a part of the movie. The Disney star was not used to that kind of hate, so she dropped out of the role after a few weeks. Since then they've been a Nickelodeon actress, Alexandra Shipp, to play the role and secured Wendy Williams as the executive producer. There is just one problem.

Another production company has stepped in and made friends with the Haughton family. Even more, they've secured Author/Publisher Zane to write the script. Zane released a statement via Facebook on the matter. You can read it below.

"Let me clear something up. The movie that I am writing and also executive producing along with someone else is not the Lifetime movie. It is a feature film. I am going to be working closely with Aaliyah's family to make sure that it is a thorough, uplifting and honest portrayal of her life. We do have the rights to use her music, unlike the other project, and also will have a soundtrack of the songs that were never released. I would never do that project without their blessings and without their input on what made her such an amazing and talented person, like that fact that she graduated from Detroit High School of the performing arts with a 4.0 GPA. If someone can do a film without the family's blessing, there is no reason why we cannot do one with them and portray her as she truly was. Thanks for allowing me to clear that up."

This is messy. Although many of us loved Aaliyah, her life was not big enough for a movie and definitely not big enough for two movies. However, the drama of making these movies is more interesting than a movie itself, so I feel like it's a game with the producers. Maybe Zane realizes how crazy this is, because soon after publishing the status she deleted it and replaced it with a blog link about the movie.

Do you even care about these movies being made? If you watch it on Lifetime, will you watch another one with a different actress in the theaters?